Nature’s Layers Unravelled – Encounters with birds, beasts, and relatives
Jennifer Nandi bids goodbye to the Sundarbans and acclimates to civilisation as she traipses the streets of crowded Kolkata The famous bridge over the Hooghly River in Kolkata January 12 – Leaving for Kolkata During the three-hour-cruise to the jetty, from where we will be transferred by car to Kolkata,…
Hunters 1 Freeloaders 0, at least that was the score when I left a Crested Goshawk to eat its meal in peace. The crows had to be content with looking I was at Sim’s Park, Coonoor, after a casual day-drive with my wife and a couple of friends. As I…
Demoiselles, like other cranes, suffer on account of habitat loss and degradation throughout their breeding and wintering ranges. With the spread of agriculture in the Eurasian steppes a large swath of the species’ breeding territory is threatened on account of disturbance, grazing and hunting. In India, where the cranes winter,…
In 2002, while in Chopta (part of Kedarnath Musk Deer Sanctuary), we had tried to visit the Musk Deer Breeding Centre but were denied access. They behaved as if it were a nuclear installation, a friend who was with me then had observed. Later in August 2006 I was in…
As I enter the village children greet me. They are a cheerful lot, waving and smiling at the visitor with a camera. I notice that they are playing with a dead snake and want me to see it up close. For an armchair explorer like me, fed on a regular…
You must be familiar with that old joke: How many morons does it take to change a lightbulb? The answer shall be illumined presently to the patient reader of this post. But first, the story of a sting operation. Apart from a long line of little black ants bearing whitish larvae…
Birds of the scrubland, harriers are unmistakable for their flight – close to the ground, with the wings held in a high-upstroke V, and the eyes directed downward looking intently for prey. A male Montague’s Harrier on the hunt I have seen Montague’s Harriers (Circus pygargus) frequently in and around Mysore but…
On the last leg of her sojourn in the Indian Sundarbans in West Bengal, Jennifer Nandi enjoys an off-day that turns out quite rewarding Jan 11, 2010 Our definition of a pleasant morning – few tourists! We enjoy a slow walk on one of the islands to a watchtower – the walkways…
Tawny Coster (Acraea terpsicore) Photo: Beej The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
In April 2006, we trekked from the Iruppu waterfalls in Kodagu (Coorg) to the Brahmagiri peak on the Karnataka-Kerala border. After crossing the lower bamboo-dominated patches we crossed a transition zone and reached a nice shola patch at the edge of the high-altitude grassland. That’s where we saw the frog.…
Though smaller than other Aquila eagles, the Booted Eagle (Aquila pennatta) is a powerful bird of prey. It hunts reptiles, small mammals, and medium-sized birds, including crows and partridges. A pale morph Booted Eagle banks in flight My first prolonged and high quality sighting was near the Ranganathittu Bird…
A Spotbill Duck trapped for the pot in western Uttar Pradesh Amid caged quails trapped for the pot, a girl holds a Yellow-fronted Green Pigeon Text and photographs by Sahastrarashmi The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from India.
To a layperson, scrublands connote territory that is laid to waste. Dead, deserted places to stay away from. But that impression deserves to be tested. Scrublands, in fact, are dry, open spaces with a thin layer of surface grass, occasional shrubs and small, hardy trees such as acacias. Visit one…
The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, which includes the Nilgiris district of Tamil Nadu apart from regions in Karnataka and Kerala, has some of the highest ranges in southern India including Dodda Betta, the second highest peak in the Western Ghats. These high ranges are notable for a peculiar kind of forest…
Common Bush-Brown butterfly (Mycalesis perseus) in wet-season form flirting with the shadow of a Tulsi plant (Ocimum sanctum) on my balcony on a sunny afternoon, and eventually perching on it. Enough said. Well, that was almost wordless. Photos: Beej The Green Ogre – Birds, Wildlife, Ecology and Nature notes from…
